Kii launches its Game Cloud developer platform with heavy Unity integration

Just make games. Cloud technology company Kii doesn’t want developers to have to worry about the busy work of building a backend infrastructure. Instead, it wants to worry about that for them while the creative people make something fun.

Today, Kii is introducing its new Game Cloud service that developers can use to build the behind-the-scenes machinery that makes online mobile games work. Kii wants to make the process of distribution and monetization easier on smaller developers so that they can worry about making the best product possible. To make things simple, Game Cloud features a strong link to the popular game-development engine Unity. Kii’s software-development kit enables studios to quickly build a backend solution for their game with an easy-to-use plugin.

“We really want to help game developers,” Kii chief product officer Phani Pandrangi told GamesBeat. “If you’re a developer, you want to make great games. Ultimately, however, they have to worry about how they support their game with services — especially as the number of gamers increases.”

Game Cloud serves multiple purposes. As a backend, it can handle player log-ins, social integration, and push notifications. It also collects data so that developers can get the exact analytics they need to improve their specific games. Pandrangi notes that studios can build and maintain these things themselves, but Game Cloud streamlines and makes it scalable.

“We’re offering all of that server-side functionality as a platform,” said Pandrangi. “And we can provide scale and performance. Developers don’t have to worry about a growing playerbase. If it grows to 10 million average daily users or whatever, they don’t have to worry about that because we have the servers that can scale to handle that and still perform.”

Kii doesn’t just provide the cloud services. It also has relationships with ad networks that developers can leverage to start generating revenue from their games. The company can also provide distribution in the huge Chinese market.

“We’re doubling down on the huge gaming development and distribution opportunities in mobile,” Kii chief executive officer Masanari Arai said. “According to industry analysts, Asia and Europe combined could take more than 80 percent of the global revenue share for mobile and online games — a market projected to be $60B by 2017. Our Game Cloud service is best positioned as the platform for both independent developers and gaming studios who not only want to build games for global audiences, but also want to succeed in Asia. Developers who don’t capture this market of Asian mobile gamers will miss out on a huge growth opportunity.”

To celebrate the launch of Game Cloud, Kii is holding a contest. The company is inviting developers to integrate Game Cloud features into their game for the chance to win $10,000 and distribution in China and Japan.

Developers need to create a YouTube video showing off the core mechanics of their game. Studios need to put “for Kii to Unity Game Contest” in the title of the video. A panel of judges will then take a look at the entrants. They will consider the quality of the game as well as the number of YouTube views and likes to determine a winner. The contest ends April 28.

For full rules and an explanation of how to enter the contest, check out Kii’s blog post.